A Weekend of 8 Praises

Saturday night took an unexpected turn for our family. Hubby, youngest daughter, M, and I were up in the den watching a movie. A was out with friends. About 9:30, the phone rang - it was A, tearfully telling us she'd had a car accident. We rushed to the scene where police were already present. First praise - No one was hurt.

A, who had been driving with two other passengers in her car, looked away from the road for a second. In that time, the car in front of her decided to make an unexpected right turn into a gas station. A rear-ended her. Second praise - No damage to the woman's car. A's car sustained substantial damage.
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Third praise - While she was at fault for taking her eyes off the road, A wasn't ticketed.

A typed up a detailed account of what happened and we emailed it along with pictures of her car to our insurance agent's office Sunday morning. This morning, our agent called us.

Fourth praise - Our insurance rates won't go up over this. Seems we have a 10 year Accident Free discount and the first accident that occurs, no matter who is driving or who's at fault, is forgiven.

We have car rental reimbursement on our policy. That means our insurance will pay 80% and we would pay 20% for car rental during the time A's car is being fixed. Fifth praise - Our insurance agent just secured a contract with a local rental agency who will waive our 20%, so we will rent a car at no cost to us.

Sixth praise - We thought we had placed a $1,000 deductible on repair of her car, but somehow we only have a $500 deductible on her policy.

A works as a waitress in a small family-owned restaurant and deposits her entire paycheck, using her tips for spending money. Seventh praise - She has enough in her account to more than completely cover the deductible to repair her car.

There have been some frightening lessons in this ordeal for A and it's been an emotional weekend for her. But in my heart, I know they were necessary lessons. Largest praise of all - I'm so grateful to God for His watchful Eye, His Hand of protection, and His Heart of mercy. We all know this could have been so much worse in so many ways.

***UPDATE***
We received final word on A's car this afternoon from insurance. It's been officially totalled. It's an older car and the cost of repairs exceeded the replacement value. An additional praise - the insurance check will be sizeable and we'll be able to replace her car relatively painlessly when the time comes. An additional, additional praise - As kinda cute and terribly precious to us, so after much deliberation, we've decided to keep her in spite of her very expensive, momentary lapse in judgement.